Touring Taormina

Taormina Sunrise

The view from our balcony this morning - we could see Enta through the clouds but it doesn't appear in the picture,

The hotel pool, just below the balcony.  Life is good.

We left Ridgewood on time and arrived in Lodi as promised at 1 PM, departing from there for JFK.

All aboard, we departed for JFK.

Both of our flights landed early, which was good because we had a tight connection at Rome's Fiumicino airport.  Even better, all of our luggage arrived with us at Catania.

We had a quick stop in Catania, the second largest city in Sicily, before heading to our hotel in the resort town of Taormina.

Agrigento

Agrigento is one of the 50 (50!) UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Italy.  Originally a Greek colony dating from  the 6th century B.C., the excavated areas that can be visited today are from the later Hellenistic and Roman periods.

For those who are interested in visiting the archeological park and the museum at Agrigento, a group of us will be striking off on our own from Palermo on Monday, November 3rd (our last full day in Italy).

We will walk or take cabs from our hotel for one-half mile to Palermo Centrale train station, where we'll get a regional train to Agrigento.  

Palermo Centrale

The two-hour train ride will take us east to Cerda before turning south and traveling through Roccapalumba, Acquaviva, and Aragona, arriving at Agrigento Centrale just before 10 AM.

From the train station in Agrigento we'll take either the public bus or taxi cabs one mile to the archeology museum (we'll visit this first because it closes at 1:30 PM on Mondays) and the park, the Valley of the Temples.

In order to be back in Palermo in time for our farewell dinner that night we'll need to be back at Agrigento Centrale in time for the 3:14 PM train back to Palermo (arriving at 5:16 PM), leaving us about four hours to enjoy the museum and the excavations.

The round trip train fare will be €16,60 and the entry ticket for the museum and the excavations is €10,00.

You can read more about Agrigento here:  Valley of the Temples overview

Blessing & Breakfast

Fr. Greg will be offering a blessing for us at both services (8 AM and 10 AM) on our departure day, Sunday October 26th.  Everyone is welcome and encouraged to come to whichever service you like.

After each service we have a coffee hour but if you prefer a full meal there are three popular spots for breakfast in Ridgewood within walking distance of the church.  We'll lock your luggage up in the church office until the bus arrives so you won't be weighed down by stuff.

Here are the breakfast options:

One block away:  Daily Treat 

Two blocks away:  Country Pancake House 

Three blocks away:  Raymonds

What's on your last minute list?

• Alert credit card companies and banks (if you will be using your ATM card to get cash) that you will be using the cards in Europe
• Make a list of numbers to call if credit cards are lost/stolen, carry one copy with you and leave one with someone you trust
• Send itinerary and flight info to family, put a copy in your checked luggage as well as carry on
• Send a link to this blog to family and friends
• Add international calling to cell phone plan
• Check the long-range forecast (www.weather.com or www.wunderground.com) and make sure you have appropriate clothing
• Check the camera batteries; put the camera manual in your bag and pack extra batteries or a battery charger
• Update voice mail and e-mail auto-reply message
• Charge device batteries (pda, iPod, mobile phone) and spares
• E-mail critical documents to your webmail account (for example, make a pdf file of your passport information page and mail it to yourself)
• Remove unnecessary cards from wallet (library, Metrocard, punch cards, extra credit cards 

Household stuff:

• Set heat and water heater at minimum
• Set lights on timers
• Turn off coffee pots or other appliances with automatic turn on
• Turn off ice maker
• Get rid of perishables in refrigerator
• Water plants
• Empty trash and clean kitchen
• Lock all windows and doors
• Power-off computer and other sensitive electronic equipment
• Return library books

Tipping

If you want to start a fight, go to any travel message board (for example, Trip  Advisor, Cruise Critic, etc.) and create a thread about tipping, then duck because the flames will begin to fly.

Whether or not to tip and, if so, how much to tip, is a deeply personal decision.  Different cultures view the practice in different ways, from our American perspective of tipping as a reward/incentive for performance to the Japanese, who do not tip at all.

On the message boards travelers argue vehemently about the "rightness" of adapting to the local culture vs. the "niceness" of handing out money, regardless of what is expected.

There is no right answer, but there are lots of opinions.  Here are three different perspectives:
Rick Steves on tipping in Europe
Fodors Travel on tipping in Italy
Lonley Planet on tipping

I particularly like this Italian article, written for Italians traveling to other countries.  They note that some (Italians) may think that they should tip 10%, "but in the memory of human kind no Italian has ever done so":  Mediaset article on tipping (in Italian)

As you read through the documents the agency (Jet Vacations) has sent to each of you, you will note that tips are already paid for the hotels and all included meals.  

Again, everyone should do what makes them comfortable.  For what it's worth I'll share my thoughts on what the agency has suggested on the following points because the document they use is generic and not specific to Italy:

• Drivers and local guides - I personally feel that €3 per person, per day for the bus driver and each local guide is excessive
• €4 per day, per person for the Tour Director is on the high end, but not unreasonable
• If a service fee is included at a restaurant there is no need to tip anything additional; if there is no service fee the maximum I would tip is 10%
• In a cafe or bar a 15% tip, as suggested by the agency, is way over the top

Personal Safety While Traveling

If you spend any time at all perusing travel web sites and message boards such as Trip Advisor, Fodor's, Rick Steves, Lonely Planet, etc., you know that two of the most discussed topics are pickpockets and tipping.  (More on tipping in a later post.)

It's a sad fact of travel today that professional pickpockets of every age (including young children and the elderly) are active in most major cities.  You can run into them anywhere, particularly on mass transit and at key tourist sites.  These are crimes of opportunity, so your best defense is to minimize their opportunities by (1) being alert to your surroundings, (2) only carrying the valuables you need for the day, and (3) securing your cash and credit cards in a fastened inside pocket or money belt.

A healthy dose of skepticism is a valuable, if uncomfortable, asset for the modern traveler.  It's not natural for me to assume the worst about a stranger so this is an attitude I wear consciously, especially when I travel alone.  Like many others before and since, I was targeted on a crowded bus in Italy.  I foolishly left my cheap, old cellphone in an outside pocket of my bag for all to see.  Someone did and they took it; fortunately for me my lesson was learned with an item that wasn't valuable and was easily and quickly replaced.

Rick Steves has a good, short article on the topic on his web site:  Rick Steves Article